Worcester Warriors: MP Robin Walker asks DCMS to sanction club being put into administration
- Published
Warriors are facing a court appearance over a winding-up petition over £6m of unpaid tax
Worcester MP Robin Walker has addressed parliament, asking the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to sanction putting troubled rugby club Worcester Warriors into administration.
Although Saturday's Premiership home game with Newcastle has had the go-ahead, Warriors face an RFU funding ultimatum on Monday.
"I urge the DCMS to step in by Monday," Walker told the House of Commons.
"It would be a disaster for sport in our county to lose Premiership rugby."
He added: "The current owners of the club have brought it to the brink of financial collapse.
"I urge the DCMS, as the largest creditor, and the department responsible for safeguarding the interest of sport, to step in and do so before Monday."
Walker, whose constituency contains Warriors' Sixways home, has spoken to two potential bidders.
One of them is the unnamed investment source flagged up last week by Warriors co-owner Jason Whittingham, who are still keen to proceed - but only if the club is first put into administration. This is also the case with former chief executive Jim O'Toole's consortium's rival bid.
"If the protestations of the current owners are to be believed and that they have the best interests of the club at heart, then they surely, even at this stage, should be the ones calling in the administrators," Walker added.
"For all that they claim that this is the impact of the pandemic, they have failed to maintain the trust of their employees, keep their promises to local stakeholders or set out realistic plans to reassure their many creditors.
"Their background in property development and various complex transactions through which they have manoeuvred various parts of the club and its land bring serious doubts about their genuine commitment to professional rugby at Sixways.
"With an orderly administration, and a points deduction to ensure that Warriors stay in the Premiership, there is no reason why administrators should not be able to honour season tickets - and suppliers may have a great chance of recouping some of what they are owed."
New culture minister Stuart Andrew's response
"The department is working tirelessly with the club's directors, with Premiership Rugby and the Rugby Football Union to seek the best possible outcome for all concerned," said the government's new culture minister Stuart Andrew.
"We have expended more energy on Worcester than we have with any other club and we will continue to do so.
"This has included daily dialogue with both stakeholders and the club's directors to explore all options available and to take appropriate professional advice.
"At this stage we're not ruling out any options and are sending in professional advisers imminently to take a closer look at the club and potential options.
"If it emerges from that work that the most viable option to save the club is to put it into administration then that is a decision we will not be afraid to take."
'Personal revulsion'
Walker also expressed his "personal revulsion" at a report in a national newspaper this week that the club's co-owners had received £500,000 from former Worcester owner Cecil Duckworth in January 2020, 10 months before he died at the age of 83.
"The money was borrowed in January 2020, before the pandemic and long before the owners admitted to the current financial woes," Walker added.
"Since his death they have refused to communicate with his widow or her lawyers, to give any update as to the status of when it might be repaid."
Many of the club's non-playing staff have only been paid 65% of their August salaries, while others have not received any at all.
Last Sunday's opening home game against Exeter eventually went ahead with a reduced capacity after the club secured a safety certificate, with many staff working for free to ensure the match was played.
The RFU issued their ultimatums on Wednesday, wanting proof by 12:00 BST on Thursday that Saturday's Premiership game with Newcastle could be played after setting "the same conditions as were in place for the previous weekend".
The governing body received that assurance saying Warriors had "met all the conditions" and confirmed the match will go ahead at Sixways as planned.
It is understood that the match will be subject to a similarly-reduced capacity to the 4,999 limit for the 36-21 defeat by Exeter.
'Now is the time to act'
Five Worcestershire MPs - including Walker, and also then further backed by Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid, the former Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer - had previously called for the club to go into administration.
Whittingham and co-owner Colin Goldring said that would have "disastrous implications". They then announced a deal had been agreed to sell the club on 13 September but have failed to issue any confirmation since then, other than a statement bizarrely released on Sunday to only one media outlet, BT Sport, which was then posted on Twitter.
"Local MPs and I called for a process of administration to take the club forward," Walker told BBC Hereford & Worcester. "It's very clear there are investors who are interested in moving into the club and supporting it.
"The DCMS has always said their concern about administration is that it could lead to the club being wound up and clearly nobody wants that.
"This is a huge community asset. It is many people's livelihoods. People have been working their guts out to put games on.
"We all want to see the club saved and want to see the whole club and all the property around it is kept together."
As DCMS minister when the Warriors situation first blew up, Walker's fellow Worcestershire MP Nigel Huddleston was initially precluded from getting involved. But, having been succeeded as minister by Stuart Andrew as part of the new cabinet reshuffle on 8 September, he was able to show his support and was sat alongside Walker as he gave his address to the house.
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